Prologue: The Grove of Forgotten Voices
Long before the founding stones of Ivory Crest University were laid, before the city rose and swallowed the ancient forest, the land was sacred.
The elders spoke of a grove where the air trembled with stories. Spirits danced between twisted baobab roots, and the earth pulsed with ancestral memory. It was said that those who listened closely could hear the whispers of gods, kings, and souls not yet born. But over time, the world changed. Concrete covered the red soil. Neon lights replaced fireflies. And the grove, with all its power, was buried beneath lecture halls and dormitories.
Until now.
Far away, in a quiet village where the night still holds its breath before dawn, a child was born under a blood moon. Her mother, a weaver of silence, died before giving her a name. Her father vanished into the forest and never returned. The villagers said she was touched—blessed or cursed, no one could agree. But they raised her anyway, fed her stories with her porridge, and warned her never to stray from the old path that led to the forest's edge.
Now, she is no longer a child.
Nia Olamide has a letter in her hand. Stamped with gold and the emblem of Ivory Crest University, it promises knowledge, freedom, and a future far from the narrow dirt roads of home. She boards the rickety bus that smells of sweat and diesel, unaware that every turn of the wheels draws her closer to a destiny sealed centuries ago.
And beneath the university, the grove stirs again. Shadows stretch. Tongues begin to chant. The gate between worlds grows thin.
And the whispers… return.